Castro....................A Treatise on Death Cab For Cutie

DEATHCAB FOR CUTIE IS A FANTASTIC BAND AND SHOULD NOT BE THAT ONE GROUP YOU ONLY LISTENED TO IN NINTH GRADE by FRANCISCO CASTRO

I think it is fair to say that there are different artists/albums and/or even songs that perfectly characterize a particular period of time and place in your life. In this way, music places us in spatial and chronological atmosphere that we more or less embrace. Deathcab For Cutie does exactly that for me. I’ll be the frst to say that these opinions are full of bias because they derive from said atmosphere that I just described. However, if music does not create the tension of such bias, then did you really enjoy it? Benjamin Gibbard is at most a poet and at least a musician (not that they’re particularly mutually exclusive but that’s another conversation). Transatlanticism, inarguably their breakout album, introduced us to this small rock band from Washington. The album is solid from beginning to end. Gibbard really knows how to create narratives out of personifed objects, mostly dealing with the classic sappiness of heartbreak and long distance relationships. Especially in Transatlanticism, the writing is very focused, Whether he was wishing to travel by folding a map in “The New Year”, or remembering fading tail lights in “Title and Registration,” Gibbard channeled the band’s melancholy into one main idea: the tragic implications of separation. Take for example my personal favorite, Plans. “Summer Skin,” is the perfect example of summer love ending. “What Sara Said”, shows lives being lost in the saddest places in the world: hospitals. “Crooked Teeth” is a fun rock song; speed and alcohol fueled silliness. I think it’s worth noting that Deathcab is quintessential for sappy, angst-flled pitty parties. “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” will forever make you wonder why it never worked out with that signifcant other. Or if adulthood is slowly hitting you and you’re convinced true love is a social construct, “Your New Twin Sized Bed” will get you all up in your feels. And maybe after all the snot and teary eyes, you can jam to “Portable Television” or “President of What.”

Additionally, you (yeah you) would be lying if you said that you can’t relate to “Scientist Studies,” because come on… “Cold skin and bones in this latitude / Promises of payments upon your shoulders / These four years were meant to be more than broken hearts and new addictions.” This song, describing Gibbard’s college experience, more than likely describe yours as well. In any case, Deathcab For Cutie has introduced me to so many places, narratives, and characters in a way that not many bands have. Much of their work is highly conceptual, charged with fgurative language aimed directly at your feels. Even Chris Walla, former guitarist, talked in an interview about how there were some songs written by Gibbard that he simply had no idea what they were about. And he’s okay with it! For the longest time I was on this quest to crack down the absolute meaning of every single lyric, but Deathcab’s air of mystery embedded within their work has its own beauty to it: a degree of mystery that I’ve come to embrace.

Also, everyone get excited because it has been confrmed that DcFC is defnitely planning on releasing their new album in less than a year. #tybdcfc